Tears

Hi Jack 

Happy Birthday Jack, I'm sure your mum is delighted to see you on your birthday. Are you going to treat yourself by sending out for a meal?

Good for Jo, we need cancer campaigners to fight our corner. I fight for disabled people regularly. I've managed to get a major tourist attraction, an aquarium, Portaferry Aquarium, that celebrates the wildlife in and around Strangford Lough in the east of Northern Ireland, to allow free entry for carers of disabled people, whereas previously carers paid the full adult entrance fee. Normal practice for just about every attraction or event in the UK is to give some kind of reduced price for disabled people and/or their carers.

I found out that the company that owned Portaferry Aquarium also run another major tourist attraction in Belfast, Crumlin Road Gaol, and guess what? Carers were, and are, allowed in for free. Also, Portaferry Aquarium had closed about 6 years ago and the local council had ploughed money into it, to get it up and running again. What I did was to contact a local MP who raised the issue with the owners of the Aquarium and the council who, like most or all councils, offered a reduced price for all their leisure centres etc. The council was none too pleased, and within a month of me raising the issue, the owners conformed. 

We have only one transport company for buses and trains, TransLink. They introduced double length buses a year or two ago in Belfast, called Gliders, and when I travelled on a few, there is a dedicated area for disabled people. For a disabled person to disembark at a particular stop, there's a bell push to inform the driver that someone with a mobility problem wants to get off, so for example a wheelchair user remains safely in the reserved bay until the bus stops, then it's safe to move to the exit and go down the ramp that the driver has deployed. Now back to the bell push. A wheelchair user must be in the bay with their back against a cushioned backrest, and then they are safe should the Glider stop suddenly. Where is the bell push? I looked all round for it. Turned out that it's mounted on an aluminum pole behind and above my right shoulder, three feet, or one metre, on the pole, impossible to see for a wheelchair user because the bell push itself is 90° to the right.

So one day, despite telling the driver which stop I wanted off at, I was unable to see the bell push from my position and it was only because of the noise from some of my fellow passengers that seemed to jog the driver's memory, I got off two stops after my requested one, almost a mile away. 

So I had a meeting with the manager of the bus fitting section and I requested that a bell push be affixed to a bar beside the left arm of a wheelchair user in the bay, just a foot or so along the bar. He thought that was an excellent idea and agreed to fit a bell push to EVERY bus and Glider in the fleet. I've suggested it be given my name as some laws made are named. He just smiled, so I'll not hold my breath!

Tvman xx

PS sorry for the long post folks.

Dear Johnty, that cake looks good enough to eat.

Fishtrombone, thanks so much. 

Tvman, well done, Jo Taylor would be proud of you, I’m sure. We have bell push next to wheelchair areas. But not others. Unfortunately lots of venues do not allow special commissions off our leisure’s here. If you are over 65, yes. I wish our cinema would allow me in for a little less. I love the cinema.

as for my birthday, mum gave me a lovely card and one from the cats. That cat card reduced me to tears as it looked so like my cat that died two years ago. She was a lovely cat. Her real name was Tara...but she refused it. One day mum and I were talking about Charlie Sheen getting the sack from two and a half men. Every time I said his name , she meowed. So she ended up being Charlie. She loved my boyfriend, idolised him. He loved her. When he died, she wouldn’t leave his pillow for 6 months. Then one day she came down and started a window vigil. It ended up on the news. She became famous and was called the Greyfriars cat. Sadly she died. The card is so like her. I’m glad I have the card, I collect anything that reminds me of her.

I'm happy! 

I’ve got Draco on my lap, watching the voice, it’s just simply lovely to lie on my bed, watching tv, or reading or being on here with you. 

Thanks for sharing my birthday everybody, you have all given it a great big sparkle!

Happy birthday ! It’s made me so happy to hear that you’re happy today. The best birthday gift of all. 

Lots of love 

xxx

Hi Fishy 

those ads set me off too.  I am happy that people are cancer free , but there is part of me that wishes it was me. I can see how Ellieellie feels. I hope that doesn’t sound too selfish? Particularly as my husband passed away last year from pancreatic cancer and I have a 12 year old at home that I don’t want to leave ( sorry for sounding miserable) 

on a happier note hope all is well with you . Take care   

Sorry Jack D

i sent a response not birthday orientated to someone else and it’s here . Happy birthday   

Just got back from church. It was Christingle. It was a lovely service and instead of a already made orange, ribbon and candle, we all in stages made our own. There are a few of us homeless volunteers at my church.

Remember you never need to apologise for sounding miserable here. If not here then where can you express your grief and sadness? 

My sons are 26 and 24, I can't begin to imagine how much harder this is on those of you with young children. Life can be very cruel and your world had already been shattered by the loss of your husband, you and your family must still be in shock.

It sometimes surprising what touches a nerve. The bell ringing and cancer ads are so far removed from my experience I don't relate to them at all, but for some reason the whole Brave the Shave campaign makes me very uncomfortable. I know of people who shaved their heads in solidarity with friends going through chemo and somehow that's different. No one's calling them brave or equating that to losing their hair through cancer treatment. I also know that it raises huge amounts of money for Cancer Research. My niece raised over £700.00 by shaving her head in the summer, she looked like a rock star helped by her youth, eyebrows and long fluttering eyelashes, but the comments from people about her being brave, heroic and doing something most of her friends said they could never do were hard to swallow. But that's just me. xx

Can I raise some interesting facts about our Jane Fonda of cancer activism? She has endured 88 rounds of chemo. She is fighting* breast cancer. There is even a photo of an selfie having chemo treatment. I refuse to load the photo out of respect and I do not have permission. Is there any wonder after 88 rounds of Chemo since 2007; that she wants the bell ringing to stop. I wish we could start a government petition to raise this point in parliament. The bell is too misleading. And f it’s going to continue, then maybe it needs to have the bell with the specialists during their appointments instead of waiting rooms and reception areas.

I also want Tv advertiments to raise points for the incurables, like us, and how in these adverts, they could show the help needed for the end of life patients too. I’m considering starting a petition.

Tinalay

thank you   xxx

Happy Belated Birthday wishes.  I hope you had a nice day with your mum.  I can't share your enthusiasm with the Masked singer I am afraid.  I have just finished watching a documentary on Sky Crime - Death at the Mansion - if anyone interested in the judicial system (or not as the case here) it is worth a watch

A piece of Birthday cake for you